The World Series was roiled by a race-related incident in Friday night’s Game 3 when Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel made a racist gesture in the wake of hitting a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yu Darvish.

TV cameras caught Gurriel, a Cuban, making a slant-eyed gesture and laughing after his home run off Darvish kick-started a four-run second inning.

Gurriel apologized afterward, saying he did not mean to offend Darvish, a native of Japan.

“Yesterday I was commenting that I’d never had any success against Darvish, and the gesture was saying that I wish he would look at me like one of them and maybe he’d throw me an easy pitch so I can do something,’’ said Gurriel, who was 1-for-7 in his career against Darvish before the home run. “At no point did I mean that in an offensive way. On the contrary, I’ve always had a lot of respect for them.’’

Gurriel, who had a successful stint in the Japanese league in 2014 before defecting from Cuba and signing with the Astros in July 2016, also acknowledged using the word “chinito’’ – little Chinese guy – in the dugout in reference to Darvish.

“In Cuba and in other places, we call all Asian people Chinese,’’ Gurriel said. “But I played in Japan and I know they find that offensive, so I apologize for that. I know they don’t like it.’’

Darvish, the Japanese right-hander in his sixth major league season, said after the game that he'd seen a replay of the sequence and said he was “disappointed” in Gurriel’s gesture.